Pmd and Chromatic Dispersion Tolerant Clock Recovery

1. A method comprising the steps of: receiving an optical signal; generating, from a plurality of outputs of a Fourier transform circuit, frequency domain data in response to time domain data associated with the optical signal; determining a first parameter based on components of the frequency domain data supplied from selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit, said first parameter being indicative of a phase difference between selected ones of the plurality of components; filtering the first parameter to compensate for an estimated value of chromatic dispersion; determining a second parameter indicative of a clock phase of the optical signal based on said first parameter; using the second parameter to synchronize a receiver clock with the clock phase of the optical signal; and calculating an average value of the first parameter over a predetermined time period, wherein the time domain data has an associated baud frequency, and selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit are associated with components of the frequency domain data that are spectrally spaced from one another by the baud frequency.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating an analog signal representative of the optical signal; sampling the analog signal at a sampling frequency controlled by the second parameter; and providing the time domain data in response to said sampling the analog signal.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sampling step further comprises: tuning a phase of the receiver clock according to the estimated clock phase; and sampling the received signal according to the phase of the tuned receiver clock.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first parameter corresponds to a dot product of first and second ones of the plurality of components of the frequency domain data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the second parameter includes determining an imaginary part of the first parameter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second parameter is not a function of a polarization mode dispersion of the received optical signal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimated value of chromatic dispersion is determined based on the first parameter.

8. A method comprising the steps of: receiving an optical signal; generating, from a plurality of outputs of a Fourier transform circuit, frequency domain data in response to time domain data associated with the optical signal; determining a first parameter based on components of the frequency domain data supplied from selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit, said first parameter being indicative of a phase difference between selected ones of the plurality of components; filtering the first parameter to compensate for an estimated value of chromatic dispersion; determining a second parameter indicative of a clock phase of the optical signal based on said first parameter; and using the second parameter to synchronize a receiver clock with the clock phase of the optical signal, wherein the optical signal is a dual polarized optical signal having an X-polarization signal component and a Y-polarization signal component offset from each other by a first delay value, the first delay value being indicative of polarization mode dispersion, and the second parameter is determined from a delay value common to both the X-polarization signal component and the Y-polarization signal component such that it is not affected by the first delay value.

9. A receiver comprising: an analog-to-digital converter circuit configured to up-sample a received optical signal; a Fourier transform circuit comprising a plurality of outputs of frequency domain data in response to time domain data associated with the received optical signal output from the analog-to-digital converter circuit; a first module configured to determine a first parameter based on components of the frequency data supplied from selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit, said first parameter being indicative of a phase difference between selected ones of the plurality of components; a second module configured to determine a second parameter indicative of a clock phase of the received optical signal based on said first parameter, wherein the second parameter is independent from a polarization mode dispersion effect on the received optical signal; and a circuit configured to adjust an oscillator according to the second parameter, wherein the oscillator controls the sampling of the analog-to-digital converter circuit, and wherein the first module is configured to calculate an average value of the first parameter over a predetermined time period, wherein the first parameter corresponds to a dot product of the first and second ones of the plurality of components of the frequency domain data, and the selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit are associated with components of the frequency domain data that are spectrally spaced from one another by a baud frequency associated with the time domain data.

10. The receiver of claim 9 , further comprising: a multiplier configured to filter an effect of chromatic dispersion from the first parameter.

11. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein analog-to-digital converter circuit, the Fourier transform circuit, the first module, the second module, the circuit configured to adjust an oscillator, and the multiplier are each implemented in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

12. The receiver of claim 10 , further comprising a third module configured to determine an estimate for the effect of chromatic dispersion based on the first parameter.

13. The receiver of claim 12 , wherein the third module is implemented in a microprocessor connected to the first module.

14. A receiver comprising; an analog-to-digital converter circuit configured to up-sample a received optical signal; a Fourier transform circuit comprising a plurality of outputs of frequency domain data in response to time domain data associated with the received optical signal output from the analog-to-diqital converter circuit; a first module configured to determine a first parameter based on components of the frequency data supplied from selected ones of the plurality of outputs of the Fourier transform circuit, said first parameter being indicative of a phase difference between selected ones of the plurality of components; a second module configured to determine a second parameter indicative of a clock phase of the received optical signal based on said first parameter, wherein the second parameter is independent from a polarization mode dispersion effect on the received optical signal; and a circuit configured to adjust an oscillator according to the second parameter, wherein the oscillator controls the sampling of the analog-to-digital converter circuit, and wherein the second module is configured to determine the second parameter based on a sum of an imaginary part of the first parameter for each of the selected ones of the plurality of components.